[MLwM] Die Leiden des jungen Werthers - with a twist

[Victor Gijsbers]

Last thursday, I unexpectedly had to master a one-shot for two players. So I took My Life with Master from my bookshelf, grabbed a handful of d4s, and off we went. One of the players (Eva) had played the game with me before, the other (Annette) had expressed interessest, but never played it. She took to it like a fish to the water.

This game just always delivers. It was so great. I do not want to write a whole Actual Play report for it, especially since I already did so in Dutch. It wouldn't be very useful either, because (a) there were no problems, (b) there is enough advice about mastering this game out there. (Check the Manifesto on Mastery, people!)

But I really need to share the tale of the minion Eucalypta and the young romantic poet Werther. It was the most heartrending tale of a minion I have yet seen. I'll leave out everything that doesn't have to do with this tale.


Eucalypta is an ugly girl, who was chased from the village because she was suspected of witchcraft. Her less than human is "cannot understand someone's emotions, unless the person expresses them by song or by poem". "Is this a good less than human?", Annette asked me. "Sure, if you take either a singer or a poet as a connection!", I said. And thus young Werther was born.


After her first mission, Eucalypta walked back to the castle through the wood, when she heard someone exclaiming the most beautiful love poetry she had ever heard. These poems immediately melted her heart, and she fell passionately in love with the young Werther, who was very nice to her.

Back in the castle, Eucalypta was ordered to kidnap her own sister, the most beautiful girl in town, Cindy. Cindy also being a connection, Eucalypta first took an overture with her; they took a walk together, and Condy pleaded with Eucalypta to come back to the town, whereas Eucalypta told Cindy that Cindy had no idea what she herself had become, and would be better off forgetting all about her. At that moment, they met Werther, who carried a poem, walked straight to Cindy, told her he loved her, and gave her the poem.

Cindy read the poem, while Eucalypta read it too, over her shoulder, tasting love for the second time - if unrequited. Cindy then returned the poem to Werther, stating that she did not love him like he loved her. At this point, Eucalypta stammered that it was she who loved Werther; both others looked at her wide-eyed, and then Werther fled. Then, Cindy and Eucalypta got into a fight about Werther, which ended in Cindy stating that no man would ever love Eucalypta, because she was so ugly. Angered, Eucalypta followed the orderds of her Master, and dragged her sister to the castle by her long hair, where she locked her in a cage.

Master then ordered Eucalypta to steal the collected poems of Werther, on whihc he had been working for years now. In his house, she told him again that she loved him, and immediately added that Cindy "no longer was in a position to get between them". Ah. Werther did not take as kindly to this proclamation as she had hoped, and the scene ended with him accusing her of being an evil witch, and trying to get away with his box of poems. She hit him, hard, took the poems, and went back to Master.

The Master was at that time trying to deal with the rebellious other minion. Eucalypta threw all the poems in his face, screaming that he had destroyed her last chance at happiness. He laughed, and tried to make her kill her own sister - who saw everything from her cage - but then the other minion attacked him, and Eucalypta finally killed the bastard by sticking a knife into him - twenty times.

And then, the epilogue. The player could choose between integration and self destruction. Ah...

She freed her sister, and together they walked back to the town. "Farewell, and forgive me," Eucalypta said. Then she walked to Werther's house, still clutching the kinfe she had used to kill her master, and "ended the pain for both of them".


This had me silent for a while.

[Paul Czege]

Damn.

[Michael S. Miller]

Damn.

I'll second that.

Thanks for posting this. Now I've just got to figure out how to get through the rest of the work day with this lodged in my heart. ... wow.

[Paul Czege]

Hey Victor,

Was Eucalypta played by Eva or Annette?

Paul

[Victor Gijsbers]

Hi Paul,

She was played by Annette, the first-time MLwM-player. Can't believe I forgot to mention that. She had played in a somewhat disturbing game of Sorcerer with me before, as well as doing some Univeralis and InSpectres.

Greetings,
Victor